African breadfruit (ukwa) is definitely one of the popular Igbo foods,
so it is well worth a good place on a list of foods eaten by the people of Igbo (a very popular Nigerian ethnic group).

People keep wondering ‘what is African breadfruit?’ and how to prepare it the exact way an Igbo person would like it.

The majority of the questions I get via my contact form are from ladies that are married to a Nigerian man, I get questions like – what to serve a Yoruba man for dinner? What to serve an Igbo man for for breakfast and stuff like that.

That was the main reason I started an entirely new series on foods eaten by different Nigerian ethnic groups and here we are dealing with African breadfruit (ukwa) as one of the popular Igbo foods.

I will try to explain in detail how this recipe was prepared in my own very kitchen and then I would talk briefly on another recipe of Ukwa that I know about.

The Two Ukwa Recipes

Ukwa is a very popular food in the eastern part of Nigeria, the people of Igbo are very familiar with the two recipes that I would be talking about below.
Ukwa could be cooked with potash and just eaten like that or it could also be separated from the water for just the seeds to be mashed with some ingredients and thereafter served with the plain cooked ukwa.

By the way, you can purchase ukwa from our online store In case you live outside Nigerian and can’t find it around you. Click Here to – Buy Ukwa

I think you will learn more about this by watching the video for African breadfruit. (Below), the entire steps outlined here was demonstrated in detail.
Below are the ingredients for preparing Ukwa (African Breadfruit), what you have below would serve about three people, you can increase or decrease depending on the number of persons you are looking to serve.

How To Prepare Ukwa

Wash the ukwa, It is necessary to wash severally in a bowl with lots of clean water, I also use a plastic sieve just to be sure that all hidden tiny stones are sorted out,

Put in a cooking pot and cook to boiling point before adding the potash, normally I dissolve the potash in water to filter out the residue, and then add the filtrate. You will also learn more about this from the video below.

It is needful to note that Ukwa does not ever get soft (done) without the use of the catalyst (potash), I tried this in secondary school and we cooked for more than four hours before we realized that something was missing. There is another ingredient that serves the same purpose as potash, it is in the form of ash gotten from the burning of palm fronds, it is locally called ngu and the people of Igbo prefer it above Akanwu (potash)

If you want to make Ukwa with ngu apply the same method as though you are using potash, dissolve in a cup of water allow for a minute or two then use the filtrate.

Cook till the ukwa is soft for consumption and you can serve. This is one of the two ways to eat African breadfruit in Nigerian, some people like to add a pinch of salt while some part of Igbos don’t use salt for this particular recipe.

The second recipe (mashed Ukwa & Corn) continues where the one above stopped and you will need this ingredients below.

Cook the corn till it is very soft as you can see above

Separate the seeds from the water as you would find in the video below, (that is to sieve out the soft seeds from the water). See the image below.

Pound the pepper with mortar and pestle, add about 100ml of red oil, a half stock cube, A pinch of salt, ogiri and stir (use a garri turner, a spoon-like wood), add the soft corn, stir

Then add the soft ukwa seed then turn very well with the garri turner and you will get the exact resemblance of the image above. Taste for salt and you are done making this African delicacy.

Instead of using any kind of catalyst, whether salt or potash, you can simply boil the Ukwa for 30-35mins with a pressure cooker (pot). it softens as needed. then you add all the ingredients and cook till water dries up to any consistence you desire.
Anambarians love siping the water while eating the porridge.
@Chika, bitterleaf is used to make ukwa porridge too.

Weldone, your site is my goto gallery anytime i want to try a different way of making even regular dishes i already familiar with. it always turns out better. Keep up the good work.

@Chi, keep up the good work. Ukwa is a highly nutritious food. My love for it propelled me into starting up an ukwa based biz. That of packaging the dried one. I supply to people outside Nigeria. You can reach me on +2348035051468. Unfortunately, I can’t upload the picture of the packaged ukwa.

She never said half cup of Maggi. She said half cube of Maggi. Go back and read the recipe and the preparation. Thank you!
Ukwa is my favorite food and cook it very well too! Thank you ma, good write up!

Thanks for teaching me how to make ukwa, my mother in law cam with some dried ukwa when she visited last time and I am looking to prepare it this week, I am going to also purchase corn and do it exactly like the video above. That is exactly how we make it in Igboland. Thanks, your videos are great.

This looks so delicious, I feel hungry already, my mum also makes this corn recipe, it is best served as dinner. Unfortunately, I only get to eat this in the village, I live in abuja at the moment and doesn’t even know where to buy ukwa in this part of Nigeria.
Please keep up the gud work